Product Description

Yao Arrow Earrings

Material: Silver
Style: Yao
Size: Height 2.5 cm, Diameter 1.75 cm
Order Number: MHSYAE1

Many visitors to Northern Thailand will have seen Yao people. The women wear turbans and a flowing gown with a red woolly collar and hand embroidered trousers. They  carry their youngest child on their backs in a decorated cloth babycarrier. The men wear indigo jackets with silver buttons.

They are scattered in many parts of South China, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos and practise slash and burn agriculture, producing mainly rice for themselves and maize for their poultry and pigs. They also grow opium.

The Yao are a very ancient minority.  During the last 1,000 years they have migrated slowly from central China  to the southern provinces and from there to north Vietnam, northern Thailand and  northern Laos.

Reference to Yao was made first in a T’ang dynasty (618-906 AD) document – mo yao – meaning ‘not subject to compulsory service’. It probably indicates a settlement following a Yao rebellion. The mo was dropped during the Sung dynasty (960-1279 AD).

They broke up into several groups and sub-groups. They speak four main languages. The largest segment, about two-thirds of the Yao population, are the Mien and Mun language speakers.

The Yao have a close affinity with silver and it unifies all the Yao groups. They wear it every day and believe it keeps their souls within their bodies. A good part of their savings was invested in silver and passed down the generations. They did not use gold.

Old Yao silver displays excellent workmanship. Yao silversmiths are often priests, who use basic tools. They get their silver by buying it and melting down silver ingots, old silver chains and silver coins. Symbols, such as  multi-pointed stars, are deployed, whose meanings have been forgotten.

Many migrated to Laos. By 1850 they were established in the mountains around Luang Prabang. By the end of the 19th century there were several Hmong villages in Thailand. In 1984 there were 245 villages.

Arrow earrings, the most frequently used woman’s earring in the Mien group, is derived from a very old Yao symbol, whose meaning is lost. It looks like an arrow or spear whose shaft has been rounded into a circle to wear on the earlobe. But it could represent the sword of the Taoist Three Generals, or the Mien Taoist priest’s ceremonial staff, or the smaller sword ‘kim’ used by the priest to ward off evil spirits. The style has existed for at least 150 years.

There are examples in The Yao, The Mien and Mun Yao in China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, Jess G. Pourret, River Books, 2002, pages 162 and 163.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).